Tree-ring science (also called dendrochronology) is very useful for studying the fire history of a given area. The tree rings contain evidence of past fires in the form of fire scars. These fire scars form when the heat of a fire moves past the base of the tree and causes a small injury, but doesn’t kill the tree. Fire scars can be dated using tree-ring methods to find out the exact year and approximate season of past fires that occurred at the site over the life of the tree. An essential part of the research includes crossdating - a process of pattern matching that ensures that each tree ring is dated to its exact year of formation. In longleaf pine, we are finding fire-scar evidence that proves fires occurred historically every 1-4 years.